The Pit
by starg8fans
Summary: Set in S1 after 'Unleashed'. The Fringe team investigates a mining facility when Peter meets with an accident. Can Walter and Olivia keep him alive until help arrives? Just an excuse for lots of Peter hurt/comfort, but not a deathfic. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** Still don't own any of the characters, in Peter's case not for want of trying, believe me. No copyright infringement intended nor any profit made or expected from this.

This story is complete, so it will be updated daily. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

As always, I am eternally grateful to my wonderful beta **mvariorum** for her input and support.

_Part 1 of 7_

The black SUV rolled to a stop in front of a chain link gate. Olivia Dunham turned off the ignition and scanned the area behind the crisscrossing wires. The open space was overgrown with weeds. In the distance a building that looked like an old fashioned red-brick factory sat next to a low, long structure that used to house the miners. Not a single window on either building was intact. She turned to the man seated in the passenger seat.

"Does this look familiar, Walter?"

Walter Bishop was not looking at the layout, his eyes were fixed on a crooked sign that hung from the gate. It was of the standard 'No Trespassing' variety, but somebody had scrawled the words "Danger - Keep Out' over it in big red letters, followed by the crude drawing of a radiation symbol.

"Yes, Agent Dunham, this is it," he replied. "Do you see the warning in red? I put that there."

"Okay, let's check it out," Olivia decided. When she opened her car door she noticed that the only sound was the rustling of the leaves in the forest that streched for miles around them. Otherwise it was eerily quiet. Not a bird or insect could be heard.

The young man seated in the back seat had obviously made the same observation.

"Are you sure this is safe, Walter?" Peter Bishop asked his father.

"Of course it's safe," Walter replied heatedly. "Or I would have requested protective suits." He turned to his son. "The radiation levels this mineral emits are negligible, and only harmful over the very long term. That warning was meant to keep busybodies away who interrupted my work."

"And you're positive this mineral was used to create that monster?" Peter was obviously in one of his recalcitrant moods today. Olivia groaned inwardly. Working with the volatile old scientist and his non-conformist son was taxing at the best of times. When they were at odds with each other she sometimes felt like a Big Top lion tamer on a hot and stormy day.

Predictably, Walter lost his patience. "No, I am not positive," he snapped back at Peter, giving his door a violent shove that caused it to fly open and bounce on its hinges. "Which is why we're here to take samples. And your unnecessary questions are keeping us from doing just that."

When Peter opened his mouth for what was most probably a sarcastic retort, Olivia intervened.

"Peter, would you have a look at that lock, see if you can get it open?" she asked.

"Oh sure, I'm only along for the breaking and entering anyway."

As Peter stalked towards the barrier in front of them Walter muttered "Impudent young whippersnapper" under his breath. But his irritation faded somewhat when Peter managed to jimmy the lock open in just a few seconds with an implement he pulled from the inside pocket of his black windbreaker. As he tugged one side of the gate open, Olivia reached for the key to restart the ignition, but Walter stopped her.

"We better walk from here on," he suggested. "The compound is riddled with tunnels and shafts from the mining activities, and even back in the days when I did my research here many of them were in advanced stages of deterioration. The weight of this vehicle could easily cause a cave-in."

Olivia nodded, pocketing the car keys. "Okay. You two go ahead, I get the lab kits from the back."

A few minutes later they were picking their way gingerly through the overgrowth and debris that covered the area. The Bishops were still bickering, and Olivia tried to make herself as inconspicuous as possible so as not to be caught in the middle of their latest quarrel.

As they approached the buildings, she stopped. "So, where is the entrance to this mine?" she asked Walter.

The scientist pointed at a hill that rose behind the structures. "The main tunnel begins back there. But there is a lab in this building that I used to conduct my experiments." He swung his hand around to indicate the red brick structure. "There should still be samples there - unless they cleaned everything out when this operation was shut down."

"So," Peter drawled, "Toss up between crawling through a dark old mine in imminent danger of collapse, or entering yet another of Walter's little shops of horror. I think I'll take my chances with the mine, thank you." He turned to go, but stopped to deliver one last jibe. "And Olivia, if you find anything lying around that looks edible - don't. Walter can turn even something as innocent as an omelet into a toxic science gizmo."

"You know perfectly well, Peter, that you had no right to interfere with my…" But Peter had already disappeared around the corner of the house. Walter stared after him, his expressive features holding a mix of rage and longing. Olivia gently took his arm. "Let's go check out the lab, Walter," she said.

As they turned towards the entrance they heard the sound of splintering wood followed by a scream.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Thanks to angellcakes23 for the review, and to everybody who's favorited this story. It's good to know I'm not the only one here who's into some hurt Peter... Well, let's see how bad it is, shall we?

_Part 2 of 7_

"Peter?" For a moment Walter's and Olivia's eyes met, then they turned as one and ran around the corner of the building. And stopped. There was no sign of Peter.

"PETER!" Walter shouted again, ready to run further around the house, but Olivia held him back.

"Hold on, Walter, let's take this slow."

"But Peter…"

"I know, but you said it yourself, the ground here is not safe. He may have fallen down some hole, and we won't be able to help him if the same happens to us."

The instinct to protect his son fought with common sense, but intellect prevailed. Walter nodded, taking a careful step forward. They hadn't gone far when they came upon an opening in the ground, almost invisible among the weeds. It had been covered by planks, but only a rim of rotting wood now framed a large, jagged hole in the center.

Walter fell to his knees, trying to peer into the gloom. "Peter?" he called again. There was no reply.

Olivia pulled a maglite from her pocket and shone its beam down the hole. "Oh dear God," Walter sighed when he saw Peter's crumpled form lying at the bottom of a deep well. Olivia quickly scanned the sides, finding to her relief that metal cramps led down one wall - obviously this shaft had been used for some sort of storage. She was relieved to note that they appeared to be made from a non-corrosive material, and were securely cemented into the side.

Stowing the flashlight in her pocket again, Olivia swung a leg over the side, searching for the top cramp with her foot. When she found that it held her weight, she quickly shimmied down the rest of the way. The area at the bottom of the shaft was small, there was barely enough room for her to kneel down next to Peter. With trembling fingers she searched for the pulse point in his neck and gratefully let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when she found a faint but steady heartbeat.

"He's alive!" she shouted up to Walter and heard a stifled sob of relief echoing down the well in reply, followed by a shuffling noise as Walter prepared to climb down himself.

"No, Walter, stay there!" Olivia called out to him. "There's hardly room down here for me."

"But Peter…"

"I'll check him through, you call Broyles and request a medevac team. Please, Walter, that's more important right now."

After a moment's hesitation Walter climbed back out of the hole and disappeared out of sight over the edge.

Propping up the maglite with some bits of wood from the broken planks, Olivia proceeded to catalogue Peter's injuries. He was lying on his right side, curled up in an almost fetal position. Blood trickled from a long gash over his left eye, and from his labored breathing Olivia deduced that he had at least one broken rib. Running her hands down his spine she breathed a sigh of relief when the vertebrae appeared intact and in line. The shoulder Peter was resting on looked out of synch, though, probably dislocated, and his right leg appeared to have developed an extra joint in the middle of the shin. Picking up the maglite to take a closer look, Olivia swallowed when she saw that blood was seeping through the black denim of Peter's pant leg. Damn, she really didn't want to have to deal with a compound fracture.

"Agent Dunham!" Walter's head appeared over the edge again.

"Yes, Walter?"

"My phone - it seems I forgot to charge it. The batteries are dead. I am unable to contact Agent Broyles."

"That's okay, you can use mine. I have to come up to get the first aid kit anyway."

With one last concernd look at Peter Olivia quickly climbed back to the surface and handed her phone to Walter after hitting the speed dial for her boss' number. As Walter lifted the phone to his ear with trembling fingers, Olivia took off in the direction of the parked car.

When she got back, gasping for breath and with a stitch in her side, Walter handed back her phone. "Agent Broyles said they would send a helicopter, and that it would home in on your GPS signal," he informed Olivia. Shoving the mobile back in her pants pocket, Olivia nodded. "It shouldn't take them longer than half an hour to get here," she declared. "I'll go back down and try to stabilize Peter until they arrive. You stay in the open so the pilot can spot you, okay?"

Walter nodded, albeit reluctantly, casting a longing gaze at the entrance to the shaft.

"He'll be fine, Walter," Olivia tried to reassure him. "As far as I can tell his injuries are severe but not life threatening."

"Thank you, my dear," Walter said, giving Olivia a tremulous smile. Then he made shooing motions with his hands towards the hole. "But stop worrying about me. Go. Go take care of my son."

Throwing the backpack with the first aid supplies over her shoulder, Olivia climbed down the hole once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Thanks you so much for the awesome reviews, I cherish each and every one of them. It's so rewarding to hear what you think.

Now this is where we start with the medical stuff, and I want to say right away that I'm no doctor, nurse, or in any other way of the medical profession. So please don't be too hard on me if there are errors regarding diagnosis, first aid or other treatments. I've done some research into it, but a lot is only a means to bring the story forward.

Thanks for reading, and of course I'd love to hear from you.

_Part 3 of 7_

Olivia had brought a bigger flashlight with a base and set it up now so she could see what needed to be done. She debated rolling Peter over on his back so she could elevate his legs in case he was going into shock. But first she needed to ascertain if it was safe to move him.

After donning a pair of latex gloves, Olivia carefully ran her fingers through Peter's hair, looking for fractures. The skull seemed to be intact, but she could feel a massive swelling just behind his left temple. As she probed the goose egg to determine its size Peter let out a moan and his eyelids began to flutter. Quickly, Olivia got a package of antiseptic wipes and began to clean the blood from his face.

"Come on, Peter, look at me," she urged him, "I need to know you're with me. Come on, you can do it."

Peter heard her voice as if from very far away, but he clung to the familiar sound even as the black abyss was beckoning him to once again fall into its embrace. His lids felt heavy as lead, but he eventually managed to open them a crack.

"Li… via?" he husked and was rewarded by a cool hand that ran over his forehead.

"There you are. Don't try to move," she cautioned him as he tried feebly to turn towards her.

"Wha… happened?"

"You fell down a shaft and managed to bang yourself up pretty badly. But a medevac team is already on its way and it shouldn't take long for them to get here."

Seeing that Peter's eyes were now almost completely open Olivia reached for her maglite. "Hold still, I have to check your pupils." But in spite of the warning, Peter tried to pull back when the bright light hit his eye, crying out when the movement sent a bolt of pain through his right shoulder.

"Olivia? Please tell me what's going on!"

Walter must have been hovering close by, and had heard Peter's scream.

"It's okay, Walter, Peter's awake and coherent," Olivia called out to him. "He just jostled one of his injuries, but I got him."

"Are you sure I shouldn't come down and…"

"No, Walter, I need you up there to guide the medical team to us. Keep an eye out for the helicopter, that's the most important thing now."

There was a lengthy pause before she could hear the old scientist's "Okay" echo down the well. Checking her watch, Olivia saw that ten minutes had passed already. She turned back to Peter. The brief interchange had given him time to recover somewhat from the agony, but in the new position he was lying in now his shoulder throbbed painfully with every heartbeat.

"I think your shoulder is dislocated," Olivia explained. "Try not to move, okay?"

Peter shook his head. "Hurts…" he gasped. "Need to… roll over… my back. Shoulder… it's killing me."

Olivia bit her lip. She wasn't keen on moving Peter without knowing the exact extent of his injuries. But she also knew she needed to get him as comfortable as possible to prevent him from going into shock.

"Okay," she said. "But I have to stabilize your leg first. I'm afraid it's broken, Peter."

With a groan that sounded a lot like an expletive Peter nodded.

"I wish I could give you something for the pain, but until we know how bad your concussion is it's not safe. I'm sorry," Olivia explained. Even though she'd only had a moment to check Peter's pupils, she had noticed that they were reacting sluggishly.

Peter nodded again. He knew the drill.

When Olivia moved the light to shine on Peter's leg she was shocked to see it lying in a puddle of blood. With trembling fingers she grabbed a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut open the pant leg, exposing the break. It was a gruesome sight. The shin bone was sticking out through a jagged tear in the skin, and blood was flowing freely from the wound. She checked her watch again. Almost 15 minutes had passed. The best way to stop the bleeding was to put pressure on the wound, but that wasn't possible with the bone sticking out like this. She'd have to set the break first, but she recoiled at the thought of how much pain it would cause Peter. Maybe a tourniquet would suffice for now, after all it should be only 15 more minutes until help arrived.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Love the reviews, guys, please keep them coming. :D

More First Aid in this chapter, hope it makes a modicum of sense.

_Part 4 of 7_

Although she tried to be as gentle as possible, by the time Olivia had the tourniquet in place and the broken calf strapped to a board, Peter was bathed in sweat and on the brink of blacking out again. Olivia was torn between allowing him the comfort of oblivion and keeping him conscious which was SOP for brain trauma. Peter made the decision for her, grabbing her wrist with his left hand and hanging on for dear life. She knew there would be bruises later, but if it helped to ground him she didn't care.

"Okay, we're ready," Olivia said, clamping her tethered arm across Peter's hips and putting her other hand on his uninjured shoulder. "Try to keep your legs still. Here we go." And she slowly rolled him on his back.

Peter's relief as the pressure on his shoulder eased was short-lived. As he settled on his back something shifted in his ribcage, and a white hot stab of pain severed his precarious hold on consciousness, sending him back into blackness before he could even make a sound.

Olivia saw Peter's eyes roll back and his head loll to the side. In a way she was glad he was out again, since it would give her a chance to rearrange his broken leg without hurting him further. Emptying the backpack, she took off her coat and stuffed it inside, using the package to elevate Peter's broken leg in the hope that it would help to stop the bleeding. It had slowed down considerably, but blood was still trickling from the wound. Olivia wondered why it wouldn't clot, but then she remembered that Peter had been suffering from headaches recently - probably caused by sleep deprivation due to his father's irregular schedule and nighttime antics. He had been looking tired and drawn, and Olivia had seen him popping Aspirin on several occasions. Now the blood thinning effect of the drug manifested itself at the worst possible time. She vowed to herself that as soon as they got out of this predicament she would talk to Broyles about finding more permanent housing for the Bishops, where Peter could have his own room.

During her silent musings Olivia became aware of a clacking sound that came from the surface. Dear God, what was Walter doing up there? She didn't feel comfortable leaving the old man on his own, but she had enough on her hands taking care of Peter. She wouldn't be able to handle Walter's panic and concern for his son and at such close quarters as well.

Checking her watch, she saw that it was almost ten minutes since she had applied the tourniquet to Peter's leg. She decided to give it another five minutes before loosening it for a while to keep the circulation going. According to her calculations, help should not be far behind.

"Walter?" she called up the shaft. There was no reply at first, and she had to repeat her shout a few times until it brought results.

"Yes, Agent Dunham?"

"Any sign of the rescue chopper yet?"

"No, nothing. But I'm laying a trail for him," Walter informed her excitedly.

"You're laying… never mind." Olivia was not in the mood to play twenty questions. "Just keep looking for it, and let me know the moment it comes into view, okay?"

"Yes, of course my dear. Any change in Peter's condition?"

"No, he's unconscious but he's holding his own. He's going to be okay, I promise you."

Walter nodded and disappeared. Soon after, the clacking began again.

Olivia looked at her watch once more. It was becoming an obsession. By now it was almost half an hour since Walter called for help, and she wondered what was keeping the medevac team. Still, Olivia decided to take care of the tourniquet first before calling Broyles for an update.

The moment she unbuckled the belt she had strapped around Peter's thigh, the wound in his leg began to bleed more heavily once more. The two minutes Olivia allowed circulation to be restored seemed to take forever while Peter's lifeblood kept dripping away. As soon as she felt it was safe she cinched the belt tight again.

A weak cough from Peter caught her attention. He seemed to be coming round again, but his breathing had become even more labored. And when Olivia tilted his head to check on his condition she saw to her horror that there were specks of blood on his lips, which had started to develop a decidedly blue tinge.

With a muttered curse she yanked her phone from her pocket and hit Broyles' speed dial key. A double beep sounded. With a frown Olivia looked at the display and felt her blood turn to ice when she saw the message splashed across the screen: NO SIGNAL.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: ** Oh dear, seems the last chapter wasn't much to your liking - if the lack of reviews is any indication. I know it was a lot of exposition, but I was hoping the twist at the end would make up for it to a certain degree. If you hadn't guessed this was coming anyway... In any case, please feel free to tell me if and where I go wrong. I really appreciate concrit, and I don't mind re-writing stuff even after posting if it makes the story better.

_Part 5 of 7_

The climb to the surface seemed endless to Olivia, although she managed it in record time. When she reached the top she noticed Walter, crouching in the grass a few meters away. When he saw her, he dropped the brick he held in his hand.

"Good lord, Agent Dunham, is something wrong? Did Peter..."

"No… it's my phone," Olivia gasped, pulling herself over the edge of the shaft. "I didn't realize... I don't have a signal down there. So my GPS wasn't active." Exasperated, she ran her hands through her hair. "I should have thought of that, I…"

The ringing of her phone interrupted Olivia. She snatched it from her jacket pocket and had barely hit the 'speaker' button when Broyles voice barked from the loudspeaker.

"Dunham! Where the hell have you been?"

"Sir, I was underground with Peter. I only noticed now that I didn't have reception down there. I'm so sorry, I..."

"Hang on. I'll get a status report from the rescue chopper. Stay on the line."

Walter had approached her by now. "How is Peter?' he asked. "Shouldn't somebody be with him?"

Olivia nodded. "Yes, you better get down there. He's having trouble breathing and…" She swallowed nervously, "… and I'm afraid he's bleeding internally."

Walter's face twitched, but he nodded. "I have taken steps to ensure the medical team will find us." He pointed behind him, and Olivia saw to her surprise that an area of grass had been leveled, and a big red arrow made from bricks pointed towards the entrance to the well.

"Good thinking, Walter," she said, and the old man beamed at her praise before hurriedly proceeding to climb down the hole to assist his son.

"Dunham," Broyles' voice boomed once again from the speaker. "I'm afraid you'll have to hold out a while longer. When we couldn't pinpoint your location the chopper started to make a sweep of all the mines in the area. Unfortunately it's nowhere near your position at the moment. ETA is twenty-five minutes."

Olivia's heart sank. "Oh God…"

"What's Peter's status?"

"He's losing a lot of blood, and he has internal injuries. Can't they get here any faster?"

"I'm sorry. This bird was designed for heavy lifting, not for speed. But they're doing everything they can to get there as quickly as possible."

Olivia swept a hand over her eyes. "I understand. Sir, I'll leave my phone at the surface, but I have to get back down there. Please tell the pilot to look for a red brick building. Also, Walter has marked the location of the shaft with a big arrow. They can't miss it."

"Understood. Good luck, Agent Dunham."

"Thank you, sir."

Olivia ended the call and placed the phone carefully on the ground before once again descending to the bottom of the pit.

She found Walter sitting on the floor, cradling his son against his chest, Peter's head resting on his shoulder.

"There's fluid building up in his lungs, and I suspect one of them is punctured," Walter explained. "Propping him up like this makes it easier for him to breathe. But he's still oxygen deprived, I assume due to the blood loss." He ran a gentle hand over Peter's hair. "How long until help gets here?"

"About twenty-five minutes," Olivia said.

Walter looked up at her. "I don't think Peter will make it. Not at this rate," he said. It was heartbreaking to see how he tried to keep his composure, and only the quiver in his voice gave his desperation away. "That tourniquet will have to go, it's too much of a strain on his blood pressure. We have to stop the bleeding in his leg some other way."

"Walter," Olivia said desperately, "it's a compound fracture. I can't pressure bandage it, not like this."

"Well, my dear," Walter said with a tremulous smile, "then I guess you will have to set the bone."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: ** So. almost done. Only a sort of epilogue after this one.

This is the one that will probably get me into trouble with the medical experts. Most of this is based on other whump fics I've read, since I'm glad to say I have no personal experience with broken bones. As I said before, I'll gladly iron out any blatant errors if they are pointed out to me.

Thanks again to everybody who's taken the trouble to review, I love you all.

_Part 6 of 7_

Following Walter's instructions, Olivia tied a length of rope around Peter's ankle, looping one end around the sole of his foot and knotting it on the other side to create a handle she could use to pull on. When she proceeded to unstrap the broken limb from its support, Peter moaned and shifted restlessly. '_Oh God, no, please don't let him wake up now!_' Olivia thought, but her prayer was not answered.

The first sensation Peter had when he came around was that he was leaning against something soft and warm, and for a moment he entertained the illusion that he was safe in a hospital bed. But then the pain from his multiple injuries began to make itself known and destroyed this fantasy. A hospital would certainly have him on a regimen of pain medication by now.

Walter noticed the minute shift in Peter's body tension and tilted the head resting on his shoulder so he could watch his son's face as his eyelids fluttered open.

"Walter?" Peter croaked. His head was swimming, and he had trouble focusing on the familiar face.

"Right here, son." Walter reached for a bottle of water. "Here, drink something. You must be parched."

With his father's help Peter took a few sips that helped to further revive him.

"Maybe we should give him some Tylenol as well?" Olivia suggested. "It will barely take the edge off, but it might…"

"This will be over and done before the medication can take effect," Walter countered. "There is no time. You have to do it now."

"Do what?" Alarm bells went off in Peter's head at the urgency in their voices. "What are you two up to?"

"Olivia will have to set the break in your leg so we can stop you from bleeding out before help arrives," Walter explained.

Peter closed his eyes and groaned, "Aw great. Couldn't you do that while I was still out?"

"Yes, you did pick a rather inopportune moment to come around," Walter agreed. "But you can handle it, son. Remember what I used to tell you when you were a little boy?" He proclaimed, stressing every single word, "Big Boys Don't Cry."

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't remember you ever saying that to me, Walter," Peter muttered. Then he gritted his teeth and nodded at Olivia. "Let's get it over with. Do it."

"Just a second, this might help." Walter held up a length of rolled-up gauze, and Peter opened his mouth obediently to allow his father to put it between his teeth to bite down on. Then Walter grabbed the belt on Peter's hips with both hands. He was afraid of wrapping his arms around Peter's chest to hold him in place, since it could do further damage to his ribs or shoulder. Locking eyes with Olivia, he nodded. "We're ready."

Taking a deep breath, Olivia started to put pressure on the rope across her palm, attempting to keep up a steady pull. Peter gave off a muffled cry as the edges of the broken bones started to move against each other, his hands fisting the sleeves of Walter's jacket.

As she continued to pull, Olivia felt her heart hammering in her chest and tears rising in her eyes at the agonized sounds that came from Peter. After what seemed like hours, the jagged end of the bone finally started to slip back into the wound, but that was also the moment when Peter had reached the end of his endurance. A scream that had been building up inside him escaped and the gauze fell from between his teeth. "God, please… stop… Oliva, stop…"

"Don't let go!" Walter instructed her quickly, releasing his own grip on his son's belt and wrapping his arms around the writhing body in his lap. "Keep up the pressure, or you will undo everything you've accomplished."

"Walter, I don't think I can do this to him." Olivia was trembling all over, and it took every bit of strength she had not to relax the death grip she had on the rope.

"Nonsense, of course you can." When Olivia looked up at the old scientist, there was a strength and determination in his eyes that she had never seen before. It gave her a glimpse of the personality Walter had been before his life fell to pieces. "You are _this_ close to success, and you will not fail Peter now."

Mesmerized by his authority, Olivia nodded and with gritted teeth started to pull again, accompanied by Peter's cries and by Walters soft crooning as he told his son over and over that it was almost done and that he would be okay.

It really did not take long until Olivia saw to her infinite relief that the leg seemed to almost magically straighten itself. "Walter? I think this is it. What do I do now?"

"Pull a little bit more, and then let go, _very _slowly and carefully," Walter instructed her, before turning to his son again. "It's over, Peter, Olivia did it. You can rest now, we won't have to hurt you anymore." Now that the crisis was finished, his voice once again shook with stress and emotion. His son rested against his chest, gasping and barely conscious. Wiping the sweat from his brow with a trembling hand, Walter watched Olivia as she quickly and efficiently put a pressure bandage around the wound before checking her watch again.

"ETA is fifteen minutes. I have to open the tourniquet, let's hope the dressing holds."

Walter closed his eyes and rested his chin on Peter's head. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you for saving my son."

Olivia waited several seconds, and only when the white of the bandage was not marred by blood stains did she reply, "You're welcome, Walter. And thank YOU."


	7. Epilogue

**Author's Note: ** Okay, here it is - the final part. Just to show you guys that Peter's going to be okay, in spite of everything I've thrown at him over the course of this fic. Thanks for sticking with it, and have a great weekend!

_Last Part of 7_

Peter was moodily stabbing at a bowl of soup with a spoon when Olivia stuck her head through the door of his hospital room.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey!" Peter answered, brightening considerably at the prospect of a visitor.

"Glad to see your leg is out of traction," Olivia said as she came closer.

"You and me both," Peter sighed, pushing the table with his dinner tray aside.

"It will still be a while until they let you go." Olivia ran her eyes over the cast on Peter's leg, the way his right arm was strapped across his bandaged chest, and the stitches in his forehead.

'That's where you are mistaken, Agent Dunham. I'm planning on getting out of here at the first opportunity. I'm bored out of my mind, the nurses aren't even hot, and the food..."

"… is atrocious," Olivia finished for him, having heard this complaint before. "That's why I brought you this."

She fished a slightly greasy package from her bag and handed it over. Intrigued Peter opened it. "Egg rolls - you're a life saver!" he exclaimed. Taking a hefty bite, Peter moaned in ecstasy. "I think my taste buds are coming online for the first time in three days," he proclaimed. "You just went to the top of my favorite people list."

"Oh, and here I thought I had permanent claim on that spot," Olivia quipped.

"After the way you butchered me in that godforsaken hole? Not a chance." It was only when he saw Olivia's face fall that Peter realized he had hit a nerve. "I'm sorry, Olivia, I didn't mean it that way. These meds they have me on are seriously curbing my higher brain functions."

"No, you're right. I did mess up out there, and you had to pay the price," Olivia admitted.

Peter sighed. "Come here," he said, patting the mattress next to him. When Olivia perched hesitantly on the edge of the bed, he took her hand. "You had one tiny lapse of judgment in an extreme situation," he said, "and you came through for me and fixed it. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Without you…"

"It wasn't really me," Olivia interrupted him. "It was Walter."

"Walter?" Peter's brows knitted. "I was pretty out of it at the time, and it's not as if I'm going out of my way to recall details of that incident, but I remember you fixing my leg."

Olivia shook her head. "I just did what Walter told me. Oh God, to see you in such pain! And when… when you asked me to stop, I couldn't take it anymore. I was ready to give in. But Walter… You should have seen him, Peter. He was so… forceful, so in control. He made me go through with it."

"Huh," Peter said thoughtfully. "He didn't mention that. All he's been telling me was how scared he was for me, and how you saved the day."

"You know," Olivia mused, "just for a moment there I could see the man he used to be. And I think Walter is just lucid enough to remember that too. It must be terrible for him to live with the way he is now, knowing what he's lost."

Peter sighed. "I guess you're right. And I should probably cut him some slack. But he can be so irritating at times." He looked at Olivia. "You brought Walter's 'old' self to the surface, though, so he must know now that he's still in there somewhere. I'm grateful for that."

Olivia snorted. "Grateful enough to forgive me my 'butchery'?"

Peter grinned and let go of her hand to snatch another egg roll. "Throw in some more catering like this while I'm stuck here, and we'll call it even."


End file.
